The internet has opened up a whole new world of possibilities that either were not available before the World Wide Web got invented or that have developed in leaps and bounds since its arrival. Who had ever heard of crowdfunding until very recently?
In its simplest form, crowdfunding enables ordinary everyday people to be able to invest in something, and if all goes to plan, the investor gets his or her money back with profit. However, it is not always profit based. It can be non-profit based, in which case investors would just hope to get their original investment back without any profit.
There are also some examples of crowdfunding where the investor writes the money off. This is usually the case with donations for things like charities.
As well as a way of investing, crowdfunding is also a way of raising money. Crowdfunding to raise money or capital is something that many start-up businesses use.
Another thing that the internet has caused to explode in terms of popularity is online betting, with sports and live sports betting causing the most excitement. It was therefore only a matter of time before someone came up with the idea of “crowdbetting.”
On the face of it, crowdbetting may not appear to be anything special. So, what if more people make the same bet?
But what makes crowdbetting so special is its collective nature, and this is based on a fascinating book called “The Wisdom of Crowds” which was written by James Surowiecki. Basically, the premise of the book is that a larger group of people’s opinions are likely to more accurate than that of a smaller group.
Of course, the trick behind enjoying the potential benefits of crowdbetting would be to be able to home in on the most popular bets that are backed by the largest numbers, and a platform called Colossus Bets has zeroed in on this with what is believed to be the first ever crowdbetting solution for sports.
This crowdbetting solution is referred to as syndicate betting, and potential punters can take part by either buying into existing bets or creating their own. If you feel bold enough to create your own, then you become what is referred to as a captain. Setting up a new bet or pool is extremely simple because the platform does all of the necessary preparation work for you.
Most newcomers to crowdbetting or syndicate betting, want to start off by tracking down the most populated bets or by finding captains that have established a good record and reputation and following their leads. The Colossus Bet website makes this very easy to do by publishing its Syndicate Leader-board page.
The leader-board list all captains and by working out the individuals’ profit and loss percentage and the total money that each captain’s tickets have attracted over a given period of time.
If the success of crowdfunding is anything to go by, crowdbetting on specific sports or certain races and events is going to become very popular too, and if Mr Surowiecki’s assertions about the larger the crowds get, the more accurate the forecasts become; punters could be in for an enjoyable and profitable ride.